1024

f. a species of teal, garganey.

* * *

u, f. a bird, = Swed. årta, anas querquedula Linn., Edda (Gl.)

n. [þing], mod. form alþing, by dropping the inflective i; the gen., however, still remains unchanged, alþingis. The parliament or general assembly of the Icel. Commonwealth, invested with the supreme legislative and judicial power, consisting of the legislative lögrétta (q. v.), and the courts, v. dómr, fimtardómr, fjórðungsdómar; v. also goði, goðorð, lügsögumaðr, lögsaga, lögberg, and many other words referring to the constitution and functions of the alþingi. It was founded by Ulfljot about A. D. 930, Ib. ch. 3; and reformed by Thord Gellir A. D. 964, who instituted the courts and carried out the political divisions of Icel. into goðorð, fjórðungar, and þing, ch. 5. In the years 1272 and 1281 the alþing, to some extent, changed its old forms, in order to comply with the new state of things. In the year 1800 it was abolished altogether. A kind of parliament, under the old name alþingi, was again established in the year 1843, and sat at Reykjavík. Before the year 930 a general assembly was held in Kjalarnes, whence it was removed under the name of alþingi to the river Öxará, near to the mountain Ármannsfell. The much-debated passage in Hænsaþ. S. ch. 14—en þingit var þá undir Ármannsfelli—therefore simply means that the events referred to happened after the removal of the Kjalarnesping. The parliament at first met on the Thursday beginning the tenth week of the summer, which fell between the 11th and the 17th of June; by a law of the year 999 its opening was deferred to the next following Thursday, between the 18th and 24th of June, old style; after the union with Norway, or after A. D. 1272 or 1281, the time of meeting was further deferred to June 29. July 2 (Vis. B. V. M.) is hence called Þing-Maríumessa. The parliament lasted for a fortnight; the last day of the session, called vápnatak, because the weapons having been laid aside during the session were again taken (cp. Engl. wapentake), thus fell on the first or second Wednesday in July. As to the rules of the alþingi, vide esp. the first chapter of the Þ. Þ. Grág. (Kb.) i. p. 38 sqq. The most eventful years in the history of the alþingi are, A. D. 930 (foundation), 964 (reform), 1000 (introduction of Christianity), 1004 (institution of the Fifth Court), 1024 (repudiation of the attempt of the king of Norway to annex Iceland), 1096 (introduction of tithes), 1117 (first codification of laws), 1262–1264 (submission to the king of Norway), 1272 and 1281 (new codes introduced). In the year 1338 there was no alþing held because of civil disturbances, eytt alþingi ok þóttu þat údærni, Ann. s. a., Grág. (Þ. Þ.) Íslend. bók, Kristni S., Njála, Sturl., Árna b. S., Ó. H. (1853), ch. 114; of modern writers, vide esp. Maurer, Entsteh. des Ísl. Staates; Dasent, Introd. to Burnt Njal; some of the Introductions by Jón Sigurðsson in D. I., esp. that to the Gamli Sáttmáli of the year 1262.

COMPDS: alþingisdómr, alþingisför, alþingishelgun, alþingislof, alþingismál, alþingisnefna, alþingisreið, alþingissátt, alþingissáttarhald, alþingissekt, alþingissektarhald.

* * *

n. letter, witten deed.

* * *

n. [for. word, from Lat. brĕve, like Engl. and Germ. brief; Dan. brev], in Icel. proncd. with a long e, bréf

a letter, written deed, rescript, etc. Letter-writing is never mentioned in the true Icel. Sagas before the end of the old Saga time, about A. D. 1015. Bréf occurs for the first time as a sort of dispatch in the negotiation between Norway and Sweden A. D. 1018; lét þau fara aptr með bréfum þeim er Ingigerðr konungs dóttir ok þau Hjalti sendu jarli ok Ingibjörgu, Ó. H. ch. 71; bréf ok innsigli Engla konungs (viz. king Canute, A. D. 1024), ch. 120: a royal letter is also mentioned Bjarn. 13 (of St. Olave, A. D. 1014–1030). The earliest Icel. deeds on record are of the end of the 11th century; in the D. I., Sturl., and Bs. (12th and 13th centuries) letters of every kind, public and private, are freq. mentioned, vide D. I. by Jon Sigurdsson, Bs. i. 478–481, etc., Fms. vii–x, Sturl. freq. [In the Saga time, ‘orð ok jartegnir,’ words and tokens, is a standing phrase; the ‘token’ commonly was a ring; the instances are many, e. g. Ld. ch. 41, 42, Bjarn. 7, Gunnl. S.; cp. the interesting passage in the mythical Akv. verse 8, where the sister ties one hair of a wolf in the ring—hár fann ek heiðingja riðit í hring rauðan—as a warning token; cp. also the story of the coin used as a token in Gísl. ch. 8. In the old Sagas even runes are hardly mentioned as a medium of writing; but v. rune.]

COMPDS: bréfabók, bréfabrot, bréfagörð, bréfamaðr, bréfasveinn.

m. a pr. name; for the origin of this Norse name from Charlemagne see Ó. H. ch. 111,—hví létztu sveininn Magnús heita, ekki er þat várt ættnafn? Sighvatr svarar, ek hét hann eptir Karla-magnúsi konungi ( king Charlemagne), þann vissa ek mann beztan í heimi. From this Magnús (king Magnús the Good, born 1024) the name afterwards spread to all countries in which Norsemen settled.